But that may change as Moscow is reportedly eyeing expanding to establishing a second military port in the Mediterranean, off Libya. The Wall Street Journal in a Friday report calls Libya the "North Atlantic Treaty Organization's backyard" — in a quote which Moscow officials would take serious exception to. 

The North African Arabic speaking country has for years been in a state of chaos as multiple governments have vied for control in the wake of the 2011 US-NATO military intervention and overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

While the US and much of the UN have supported and officially recognized the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) which holds the Western half of the country, Russia has maintained a tighter relationship with Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, commander of the the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA).

The GNA and LNA have been locked in a state of internecine warfare, vying for total control of the war-torn country and its oil wealth, for much of the past decade. The WSJ says that Moscow hopes to use this closeness to Haftar to one day establish a military presence on the Libyan coast.